‘It’s all about public safety’: The differences between enforcement agencies operating in Medicine Hat

Medicine Hat Police Chief Alan Murphy said enforcement jurisdictions are more fluid than people think and that any officer has the duty to respond in an emergency situation.

“If it’s unplanned and we were passing through Redcliff and saw something, as a Medicine Hat police officer, of course we’d deal with that right in the moment and then let the RCMP know,” Murphy said.

“We’d contact them as soon as possible, but in an emergency situation, we’d still deal with it in another jurisdiction and let the other agency know right away as soon as we could. For planned things, it’s a little different,” he said.

As a general rule of thumb, peace officers will enforce municipal bylaws, such as traffic violations and animal control while Medicine Hat police will enforce criminal code laws.

Redcliff RCMP is a federal agency and is primarily responsible for a larger jurisdiction where they tackle issues facing multiple jurisdictions, such as drug rings or organized crime.

Alberta Sheriffs tend to be part of a task force, but often aid municipal police with higher risk violations. Sheriffs will most notably be seen in Medicine Hat tackling impaired driving, drug houses and will aid in the arrest of high value targets.

Murphy said that the relationship with all enforcement agencies are harmonious as they all share one common goal: public safety.

“I try not to get hung up on jurisdictions. Although we respect each others jurisdictions, we’re all trying to work together for public safety,” he said.

“Criminals don’t know boundaries. We do. That’s why we got to work together. Criminals can go anywhere, so the jurisdiction between Medicine Hat and RCMP versus whoever else, it doesn’t mean squat to a criminal, they’ll go anywhere, so we got to operate that way too.”

“We gotta help each other out because that’s what it comes down to – public safety and getting the job done. We got to sometimes leave our egos at the door around that and get the job done.”

Evidence of effective cooperation can be found with various task forces, including the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team, also known as ALERT, and the Fugitive Apprehension Sheriffs Support Team, also known as FASST.

Authorities say that if someone is unsure who to contact, call dispatch at 403-529-8481 for non-emergencies or 911.

by Adrian St.Onge

‘It’s all about public safety’: The differences between enforcement agencies operating in Medicine Hat

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